A discussion of historical approaches to addressing insect problems is detailed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,778, assigned to the present assignee and hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth in its entirety herein. The '778 patent describes a method for attracting and eradicating insects in which a heartbeat sound attracts insects to a control station. According to the '778 patent, by projecting a heartbeat sound from a speaker, one or more discrete zones can be established which attract mosquitoes and other insects. There remains a need, however, to increase the zone of influence of the established attractant zone as well as its efficacy.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,168,591 discloses a method that utilizes a combination of heat and moisture to attract insects.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,506,473 discloses a method for attracting blood-sucking insects using carbon dioxide.
Applicants' co-pending parent application addresses the problem of wide-area, outdoor control of insect populations. However, there is an increasing need to control the population of blood sucking insects in an environmentally sensitive manner. The spread of the West Niles virus from tropical areas into dense population regions such as the Northeast section of the United States of America is but one example of the need to control insect populations.
What is needed in the art and heretofore has not been available is an improved apparatus for local control of insects. What is further needed is such an apparatus that is suitable for use both indoors and outdoors. The present invention satisfies these and other needs.